The 2009 Crunchies Awards was held last week – a relatively newcomer in its niche. It is held annually by three entities – GigaOm, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch. This year’s awards is only the third. The cool thing about the Crunchies is that the Internet community is involved in deciding who gets to win what award, and this year’s Best Gadget Award went to Nook. Not bad for something that came late in the game!

From the get go, the e-book reader was touted as a Kindle killer. It is Android-based (yeah, looks like Android is the way to go these days) and boasts a 6-inch ink screen as well as a colored touch screen. On top of that, it has Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity as well as the option to expand memory up to 16GB (on top of the 2GB internal memory). I also like the fact that it has mp3 playback capability.

On the downside, its battery only lasts for 10 days (Kindle’s lasts for 14 days) and it weighs 1 ounce more than the Kindle. More so, the Nook does not have a web browser nor does it offer a text-to-speech feature.

Based on the Crunchies, though, it seems that users are finding the Nook a much better deal than a Kindle. So if I were to buy an e-book reader this year, should I go for the Nook?

Basically the race is on for e-book readers and I don’t expect the announced releases of “slates” from Microsoft and Apple will diminish this race, neither does Skiff. Together with Sprint they will be releasing a new generation of e-book reader featuring the “Metal Foil” e-Paper technology developed by LG Display.

The Skiff Reader will compete with the Amazon DX on size and thickness, featuring a display of 11.5 inches and a resolution of 1200 x 1600 pixels with 174 ppi. It will be full multi-touch screen and with stylus operation. Thanks to the Metal Foil technique and silicon build you’ll be able to bend the reader without cracking or shattering the screen.

As for the internal details it will feature a Marvell CPU, one week of average battery life, 3G enabled, short-range WiFi, USB 2 port, 4GB internal memory and a SD-card slot.

The Skiff Reader will be previewed at CES, no release date or price has been set yet.

I’m seriously considering purchasing an e-book reader this first quarter but even though I want to go with the hottest technology, the deciding factor will be if their service delivers content in Europe and what kind of files can be handled by the e-book reader.

Skiff Reader

Good thing for us, we can find all sorts of gadgets and toys to lessen the headache that traveling can bring. Here are some of my favorites – some I have and more on my wish list.

1. Apple iPod or any mp3 player. I was having second thoughts about writing “any mp3 player” as most people I know will not accept anything but an iPod, but the point is to have music to soothe you or to pump you up while waiting for your flight or while you’re trying to get over your fear of flying.
2. Kindle or any other e-book reader. I do not have a Kindle, although I wouldn’t mind getting one this Christmas. What I use is the PSP, and it works perfectly well. There’s nothing like reading to pass time!
3. Netbook. A MUST. It combines the functions of items 1 and 2 plus more. Having a netbook handy can help you tune out the crowd as you watch movies, surf the net, write, listen to music, or play a game. I also like to lug around my USB wireless Internet dongle with me as I have no assurance of access to the Internet everywhere I go.

And what’s on your geek travel bag?

Check this out… the world’s most famous e-book reader has just released version 2.0. It’s available for pre-order, and judging by the way Kindle 1.0 succeeded, I’m sure Kindle 2.0 will stride to the top as well. Kindle 1.0 was rumored to have sold at least half a million units in 2008. Not bad considering that Oprah Winfrey gave her golden endorsement. Kindle played a major role in bringing people to the good habit of reading. And who wouldn’t try to grab an e-book these days with a great gadget to read it with. At .36 inches (almost as thick as a child’s pencil), the Kindle 2.0 is thinner than the thinnest mobile phone. Weighs 10.2 ounces, and the edges doesn’t taper as sharply as before. Perfect, not too bulky, for men’s briefcases or the lady’s handbag.

The Kindle 2.0 has a much smarter and intuitive interface to keep you doing what you need to do with it… READ (Amazon says it’s the easiest reader there is). Display has been upgraded from 4 shades of gray to 16 shades of gray. Hmmm, kinda reminds me of my monochrome monitors long ago but for the Kindle… this is a good leap nonetheless. Colored Kindle soon? :) Wishful thinking.

Other improvements include 25% longer battery life and 20% faster page turns. And how about the read-to-me feature? I think this is the knock-out-punch. Kindle will read English text on the spot.

We’ve seen the commercials over and over again. Oprah Winfrey saying “I’ll tell you what my favorite gadget is… on Friday”. Well it’s Friday already and guess what, I guessed it right. Complementing her hundreds of thousands member “Oprah’s book club” she has exclaimed that her favorite gadget was a book reader. Ha ha… what else?

Now if you’ve been holding off getting an Amazon Kindle yourself, would the little Oprah push finally make you get it? No… ok, now how about if entering the code OPRAHWINFREY and saving US$50 do the trick. I guess it will! :) But you better act fast because this offer is only until Nov 1.

I could just imagine Oprah fans by the millions heading to Amazon.com to get their own Kindle 2. This is such a “made for each other” deal that will surely get America back to reading again.